Finolex Industries, the leading PVC pipe manufacturer in the
country, had kicked off the commercial production at its new
plant at Masar in Gujarat, which was set up with an investment
of about Rs 100 crore. Prakash Chhabria, Executive Chairman,
Finolex Industries Limited, revealed that the strategic location
of the new plant would allow the company to cater to agriculture
and real estate market not only in Gujarat but also Northern part
of the country.

This is the first plant of the company that has been set up outside
Maharashtra. Chhabria said, "Friendly industrial environment in
Gujarat prompted us to set up a plant there."

The first phase of the plant will have a production capacity of
about 30,000 tonnes per annum. The second plant, which will be
commissioned during 2013-14, is likely to increase the capacity of
the plant to 50,000 tonnes.

The company is also planning to start its fourth plant in the next
two to three years. The fourth plant that will cater to domestic
requirements may be established in Masar, Maharashtra or in the
North East states of the country.

Earlier this year, in an exclusive interview with CEW, S S
Dhanorkar, Managing Director, Finolex Industries Limited, had
commented, "The company is aggressively focusing on its core
business of PVC pipes and fittings where it enjoys undisputed
leadership position. FIL already has a network of more than
14,000 direct and indirect retail outlets spread across India and
plans to further develop this network so that FIL's PVC pipes are
easily accessible to every farmer in India."

The PVC pipes market has been growing steadily at more than
10 per cent per annum and it stands as approximately 14 lakh
MTs. The market is divided almost equally between organised and
unorganised players. FIL enjoys a share of more than 20 per cent in
the organised market, Dhanorkar had revealed.

According to Dhanorkar, the total consumption of PVC Resin in
India has touched 20 lakh tonnes whereas the domestic production
is approximately 13 lakh tonnes, paving the way for imports. The
domestic manufacturers of PVC Resin are, therefore, fully sold out.
"FIL will look at extending the PVC Resin capacity sometime in the
future though there are no concrete plans as of now," he added.

Commenting on how the organisation has achieved brand
leadership in PVC pipes segment, Dhanorkar explained that
over the years Finolex extended its dealer network across
different States in India reaching farmers who are the ultimate
users of pipes. "FIL always believed in providing to the farmers a
consistently high quality. This helped in building confidence in the
farmers' minds about the brand Finolex and helped the Company
grow its business from year to year. FIL retained its leadership
position in the market despite entry of many other manufacturers
in the field," he added.

By late eighties FIL was one of the largest importers of PVC
Resin (which is the main raw material for PVC pipes) in India.
This dependence on imports was however, was proving to be a
constraint to the growth of PVC pipes business. This is when FIL
decided to set up a backward integration project for manufacture of
PVC Resin.

The company has come a long way from being a "Processor" of
plastics to a ¬Producer of plastics.

In 1994 FIL commissioned its state-of-the-Art PVC manufacturing
capacity with a technical know-how from Hoechst, Germany. The
Plant was set up on the West Coast of India at Ratnagiri where the
Company also set up India's first private sector cryogenic jetty to
import the raw material required for manufacture of PVC Resin.